Chapter Text
The Hidden City was supposed to be a escape. Two years had passed since the Krang invasion, but for Leo, It still felt like a nightmare every night he would wake up back in that hell hole of a place.
Hes 18 now but he still feels like that scared and stubborn 16 yr old. But today, he wasn’t alone. He was with his family. That was all that mattered. To get his mind off of it he distracted himself. "Look, if we don't get the limited-edition Lou Jitsu figurine now, the scammers win!" Leo said dramatically, gesturing wildly inside a cluttered Hidden City shop.
Then THUD. Leo froze. His playful expression vanished. The heavy sound had echoed from the alleyway just outside. He squinted through the dusty shop window, spotting a tall, dark, cloaked figure holding a strange glowing container.
"Uhh, Leo?" Donnie muttered, noticing his twin stepping toward the exit. "Where are you going? We haven't even argued about the pricing metrics yet.""Shh! Someone’s out there," Leo whispered, his hands instinctively dropping to the hilts of his katanas.
The brothers exchanged a confused look, but where the leader went, they followed. They slipped into the shadows of the alleyway, bracing for a fight.But there was nothing. Just empty, suffocating darkness.
"Huh. False alarm, Leo?" Raph joked, carefully putting his twin sais away. "It's completely empty.""I'm not joking! I saw someone!" Leo insisted, his heart hammering against his ribs.
Was he losing his mind? Was the trauma finally breaking him? "Do you think it was a trap?" Mikey asked, his eyes wide as he scanned the brick walls. While Donnie rolled his eyes. "Mikey, please. Who would trap us in a small alleyway? We aren't that easily fooled." "Yeah... right," Leo mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Let's just go. My brain is playing tricks on me."
Leo turned to walk back to the street. That's when BAM! WOAH! "Guys?" Leo spun around confused. His brothers were gone. Before he could even draw a sword, a thick, magical darkness slammed into his vision, dragging him into the void.
When Leo finally opened his eyes, his head felt like it a smossed noodle. He tried to move his arms, but the sharp, heavy rattle of chains echoed through the room. He was pinned to a heavy metal chair. Panic and confusion surged through him. He looked around the dimly lit laboratory. To his left, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey were locked inside a heavy, mystic-reinforced cage all still knocked out.x
To his right stood a glowing green mutagen tank. Floating inside the glass was a tiny, innocent baby red-eared slider. "What the..." Leo rasped very confused. "Welcome, Leonardo," a booming, chilling voice echoed from the shadows. "It is a pleasure to finally meet the infamous leader. "The cloaked figure stepped into the light, slowly approaching the mutagen tank.
"At last, I have the perfect specimen," the figure purred, tapping a clawed finger against the glass. "I will finish what Baron Draxum was too weak to complete all those years ago. And you, turtle, just delivered the final piece of the puzzle."
Leo, snarled straining against the chains until the metal bit into his skin it hurt. "You knew Draxum?!" "Yes. And he was a fool to leave me behind. "In the cage, the other three turtles began to groan, shaking off the forced unconsciousness.
"Ugh... my shell..." Raph grunted, rubbing his head. "Guys, wake up! It’s a trap!" Leo yelled, trying to draw the Figures's attention away from his brothers. Donnie stumbled to his feet, gripping the glowing bars of the cage. "Wait, Leo—who is that?! My scanners are picking up off-the-charts mystic energy!"
BOOM! The entire east wall of the facility disintegrated into a spectacular shower of brick, dust, and blinding blue energy. Everyone froze. Through the billowing smoke, two heroic silhouettes emerged. "Did someone call for a rescue?!" April O'Neil yelled. She stepped through the rubble, her mystical baseball bat glowing with a fierce, neon-green aura.
"Step away from the turtles!" Casey Jones Jr. skidded into the room. He raised his high-tech hockey stick, his eyes scanning the lab with the practiced intensity of a future-warrior. The force of April's explosive entrance hit the cloaked villain directly, they got yeeted clean through the drywall into the next room.
The lab alarms began to blare. Red warning lights flashed. Self-destruct sequence activated. "Leo! The baby!" Mikey yelled, pointing at the cracked tank. Adrenaline spiking, Leo summoned every ounce of his strength, shattering the chains binding him. He lunged forward, smashing the glass of the tank, and caught the tiny baby turtle safely in his arms.
The little slider looked up at him with wide, blinking eyes. "Leo, we have to go NOW! This place is going to blow!" Raph yelled, ripping the cage doors open with his bare hands. "On it! Donnie, fire up the vehicle!" Leo shouted.
The team sprinted out of the collapsing facility, diving into their transport just as a massive fireball consumed the entire laboratory. From a safe distance, they stopped and watched the flames destroy everything. The silence was heavy. Mikey gently held the baby turtle, who was chirping softly, completely unaware of the danger she had just escaped.
"If this kid somehow lives..." Leo started, his voice dropping into a stern, protective tone. He looked at each of his brothers, then at April and Casey. "We can never tell her about any of this. Are we clear?" "Agreed," Raph said softly. With a collective nod, the family slipped away into the shadows of New York, Leaving the burned lab behind
But deep within the smoking, fiery ruins of the lab... A second incubation tank hissed open. One experiment had survived.